


Supernova

by WanderingAlice



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Character Study, M/M, shiro's pov, short fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-26 14:16:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9903416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WanderingAlice/pseuds/WanderingAlice
Summary: Shiro's always known where he's going. Keith's a supernova, and suddenly Shiro's eyes are turned away from the stars.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion piece to Evil_Brainmate's story Shoot to Thrill. Please go read it, it's really awesome and kicks you right in the feels.
> 
>   
>  _And if I'm lost in the world's shadows ___  
>  _I'll use the light that comes to me_   
>  _from your halo_   
> 
> 
> -Halo (Starset)

Shiro has been reaching for the stars since he was three years old - the first time he watched his father take off and fly among them. He knows who he is, and what he comes from. His father’s kindness in his bones, his mother’s patience in his soul. He’s always known where he is going.

 

They call to him, the stars. He sits on the roof at night and watches them, so many millions of miles away and yet so close he can almost touch their flickering silver glow. The need to join them beats inside him, as necessary as oxygen. He teaches himself to fly with his dad’s manuals and a sim his brother built from spare parts. Nobody is surprised when he joins the garrison. The stars are in his blood.

 

He excels at the garrison. First in his class, to the surprise of no one. The teachers praise his cool head in the sims, his natural leadership, the way he seems to absorb knowledge without effort, even the crispness of his uniform. He has early graduation in his sights, a commission, eventually a ship of his own. He’ll be the first to fly beyond the bounds of the solar system. His path is set, a neat, clear line to the horizon.

 

Then he meets Keith, and for the first time he knows what it is to _need_. To need something so bad it’s like fire in his veins and ice in his lungs. Keith with his fire and his passion, the way he _wants_ so much you can feel it. He’s a whirlwind of movement and energy, and oh, the way he _flies_. It’s as natural as breathing, like he’d die without it. Finally, Shiro has someone else who belongs to the sky. He looks at Keith and sees a light so bright it eclipses the stars, burning brighter even than the sun. Supernova.

 

The problem is, Keith doesn’t seem to want him. He tries. Talks to him, jokes about sim scores and classwork, offers help if he needs, a study partner, asks him to run pair simulations. Keith turns him down every time. Avoids him. Tries to make him go away. But Shiro is observant. He sees the looks he gets when his back is almost turned, the way Keith’s eyes linger on his hands, his eyes, his mouth. And he knows he isn’t reading this, him, _them_ wrong. Keith just needs time. Shiro needs to be patient, as if he were calming a spooked animal. For the first time in his life, patient is the _last_ thing Shiro wants to be. And it’s never mattered more.

 

So he waits. He plays the long game. And his goals adjust themselves around him. No longer is he on a straight path to the sky. Now his path curves around Keith’s, an intricate dance of lives spiraling ever closer with each touch, each look, each brush of a hand against his. He no longer needs to succeed for himself. Now he needs to impress Keith, to challenge him, to show him what he’s made of. He still yearns for the stars, but he knows they would be hollow without Keith at his side.

 

He feels Keith falling, realizing that this thing between them is more than just a game. _Almost_ , he knows. Almost. He just needs to be patient a while longer, and one day soon Keith will be ready to meet him where he stands.  It’s almost a disappointment when he gets assigned to Kerberos, the mission he always dreamed of.

 

Then he’s running, captured, tortured, fighting for his life. It’s a haze of pain and fear and death. He almost drowns in the grief and terror that consume his mind, wrapping him in darkness too thick to see. But there’s a light. It’s distant, so distant he almost thinks he dreamed it. But it’s there. He forces himself to fight, hoping that somewhere out there in the dark their paths will once again converge.

 

He escapes, plummeting to Earth in a stolen ship. He doesn’t know where his crew are, or if he’ll even survive to land. All he can think about is warning the garrison. The galra are coming and they’ll extinguish every light on earth. Every light. Even his supernova.

 

They want to knock him out. They won’t let him warn them, protect them. They need to hear him, to understand- lights out.

 

There’s hands on him. A familiar voice. Light seeps in, growing brighter and brighter. He opens his eyes and there he is. A supernova in black and red. Paths converged. He doesn’t know where he’s going. That’s okay. He trusts Keith to lead the way.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr as WanderingsofAlice! Feel free to stop in and say hi!


End file.
